Drawers and guides therefor



Sept. 11, 1962 J. SCHAPIRO ETAL 3,053,503

DRAWERS AND GUIDES THEREFOR Filed Oct. 20, 1959 s Sheets-Sheet 1 24 3/j] L 9 N 30 -19 t 29 2e 25 23 2/ '-ll /9 -/0 P y 1962 J. I. SCHAPIROETAL 3,053,603

DRAWERS AND GUIDES THEREFOR Filed Oct. 20, 1959 Y 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 "1 Iv T 30 t 7 4 24 2e 25 23 3/ a0 39 l l l r l I 3 I I 1 l P 196.2 J. l. scAPIRd ETAL. 3,053,603

DRAWERS AND GUIDES THEREFOR 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed 001;. 20, 1959 a 0 aML :5 4 2 5 2 l 2 L I 9 Lr\/\ (:3 fi Mr. 5 J 3%? 0% m 3% I 6 25 2s 29 3O(LII United States Patent Ofifice 3,053,603 Patented Sept. 11, 19623,053,603 DRAWERS AND GUIDES THEREFOR Joachim Israel Schapiro and HarryAmsel, Bristol, England, assignors to Amsel Limited, Bristol, England, a

company of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Filed Oct. 20, 1959, Ser.No. 847,507 Claims priority, application Great Britain Oct. 21, 1958 4Claims. (Cl. 312-293) This invention relates to drawers and guide meanstherefor and is particularly concerned with drawers for filing officedocuments, for instance index cards.

It is known to provide drawers for ofiice use with individual casings,and if two or more drawers have to be provided together, there is builtup an assembly of such casings. This not only leads to considerableexpense but is also wasteful as regards space. It is of course known toprovide a common casing for drawers situated one above the other but incases where two or more drawers have to be provided side by side thissystem would suffer the defects described.

Another disadvantage of known drawers is that an assembly of suchdrawers cannot easily be embodied in a relatively large cabinet capableof being locked and possibly also being large enough to receive furtherdrawers as the need for such drawers increases or being large enough toreceive also other fitments necessary for office use, for instance plainshelves.

The main object of this invention is to overcome these difficulties.

Further, it is known to provide drawers in casings as aforesaid, thedrawer being adapted to tilt forwards and downwards when in thepulled-out position so as to provide access to contents at the back ofthe drawer, because unless extensible guides are provided it is notpossible to withdraw the drawer to a sufiicient extent from the casing.The drawer is usually supported in the tilted position by a relativelyhigh back-wall of the draw-er engaging the roof of the casing near thefront thereof. This support of the drawer at the roof of the casing hasin the past made it inevitable not only that the casing had to beprovided but also that it had to be of a correspondingly strongstructure. All this combined in the past to make difficult to dispensewith the casing for tilting drawers, and it is also an object of thisinvention to dispense with individual casings for tilting drawers.

According to this invention, a filing cabinet comprises a supportingmember extending between opposite side walls of the cabinet, two or moredrawers situated side 'by side on the supporting member, and a guidemeans provided between each drawer and the supporting member andcooperating to support the drawers on the supporting member for inwardand outward movement.

One form of cabinet according to this invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the cabinet.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged section on line II- II in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of FIG. 2 showing selected de tails.

FIG. 4 is a view in the direction of the arrow IV in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section on the line VV in FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged section on the line VI-VI in FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a different operationalposition.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged detail of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 is a section on the line IXIX in FIG. 8.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown an openfronted cabinet 19(FIG. 1) comprising side walls 11,

ranged in two horizontal rows A and B and each comprising a bottom 15,side walls 16, 16, a front wall 17, and a rear wall 18. The drawers 14of each row A, B are situated side by side on a supporting member orframe 19 connected between the walls 11, 12. The frame 19 comprises twoangle members 20, 21 connected at their ends by members 22. Each drawer14 is supported on the frame 19 by a pair of guides 23 each comprising avertical wall 24, a lower track 25 extending horizontally between themembers 20, 21 of the frame 19, and an upper track 26 extending from themember 20 forwardly and upwardly to a front end '27. A pair of rollers28, 28 are provided on brackets 29 secured to the bottom 15 of thedrawer 14, the brackets 29 extending between the tracks 26 and therollers 28 being situated between the tracks 25, 26. The walls 24 areeach provided with a roller 30 situated below the bottom 15 of thedrawer 14. Between the front ends 27 of the tracks 26 and the adjacentrollers 30 there is a gap 31. The brackets 29 are each extended todefine a stop 32. The drawer 14 is freely movable inwards and outwards,the bottom of the drawer 14 running on the rollers 30 of the frame 19and the rollers 28 of the drawer 14 running on the track 25 of the frame19 so long as the centre of gravity of the drawer 14 is situated to therear of the rollers 30. As soon as the drawer 14 has been pulledsufiicient y far from the cabinet 10 for the centre of gravity of thedrawer 14 to be situated in front of the rollers 30, the drawer 14 tiltsforwardly and downwardly about the rollers 30 until the rollers 28become seated on the tracks 26. FIG. 2 shows the drawer 14 in the fullyreturned position whereas FIG, 7 show the drawer 14 in the farthestposition to which it can be pulled out. In the latter position forwardtravel of the drawer 14 is halted by the stops 32 abutting the member 21of the frame 19. In view of the inclination of the track 26 the tiltingof the drawer 14 is gradual and reaches the required maximum when thestops 32 abut. The drawer 14 is removable from the frame 19 by the frontof the drawer 14 being lifted from the inclined position shown in FIG. 7until the stops 32 are clear of the member 21 of the frame 19 and thedrawer 14 then being pulled forward until the rollers 28 register withthe gaps 31. Thereafter the drawer 14 is simply lifted from the frame19, the rollers 28 passing through the gaps 31. The reverse maneuver iscarried out for putting the drawer 14 back again into engagement withthe frame 19.

It will be seen that the arrangement described makes possible a veryclose juxtaposition of drawers one beside the other because the guides23 and the associated rollers 28, '30 are all situated below the drawers14, the walls 24 merely serving to guide the drawers 14 laterally and toprevent adjacent drawers 14 from touching. No structure is requiredabove the drawers 14 for the control of said tilting whereby the totalheight occupied by any one row of drawers 14 is reduced to a minimum anda very close juxtaposition between the adjacent rows A and B ispossible.

Referring now particularly to FIGS. 8 and 9, the frame 19 is connectedto the cabinet side walls 11, 12 by means of brackets 33 each comprisinga horizontal portion 34 on which the frame 19 is seated and which isattached to the adjacent side wall 11 or 12 by hooks 35 engaging inslots 36 in said side wall. An extension 36 of each bracket 33 engagesone of the slots 36 to secure the bracket 33 against rising and thebracket 33 is provided with a hook portion 38 engaging over the rear ofthe frame 19 from rising when the drawers are pulled forward. A lip 39on each bracket prevents the frame 19 from sliding forward. If it isrequired to remove the frame 19 from the brackets 33, the frame 19 islifted at a the front thereof until clear of the lip 39 and is then slidforward. The brackets 33 are easily removed from the side walls 11, 12by firstly being turned about the seating of the hooks 35 in thedirection of the arrow 40 and then lifted in the direction of the arrow41 from the slots 36.

The brackets 33 make possible a very easy installation of the frame 19in the cabinet and the provision of the slots 36, provided in verticalrows as shown, facilitates the positioning of the frame 19 wherever ismost suitable along the height of the cabinet 10. In this manner, newframes 19 can readily be added to any frames 19 already provided in thecabinet, or the frames 19 can easily be re-positioned in accordance withvarying ofiice requirements. The slots 35 of the cabinet can of coursealso be used for the attachment of such fittings as plain shelves inaddition to said frames 19, so that an appropriately large cabinet canserve a plural purpose. In other words, the frames 19 and drawers 14 canbe conveniently embodied in a cabinet intended for a plurality ofdifferent contents, and the building up of a compact, and yet flexible,system of office equipment is greatly facilitated thereby.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. A filing cabinetcomprising a pair of sheet metal side walls, a vertical succession ofpairs or" horizontally spaced apart apertures provided in each of saidside Walls, a pair of brackets situated at the respective side walls,each bracket including lugs withdrawably engaging one of said pairs ofapertures of the adjacent side walls to support the bracket thereon, asupporting member extending between said side walls and freely seated onsaid brackets, a drawer connected to said supporting member for movementbetween open and closed positions, said supporting member includingfront and rear edge portions lying substantially adjacent the front andthe rear respectively of the cabinet, said drawer when openedoverhanging said support member at the front edge portion thereof,extensions provided on said brackets and dimensioned freely to embracesaid supporting member substantially at the rear edge portion thereofthereby to prevent tilting of said supporting member under the influenceof said drawer when overhanging as aforesaid, over-ridable stop meanscooperating to prevent said supporting member from so sliding forwardsout of the embrace of said extension, said supporting member beinglremovable from said brackets by over-riding said stop means and slidingthe supporting member forwards out of the embrace of said extension.

2. A filing cabinet according to claim 1, each bracket comprising ahorizontal sheet metal platform extending between said front and rearedge portions of the supporting member, a front and a rear upward bendprovided on the platform at the respective ends thereof, said supportingmember being seated on said platform between said upward bends, saidextension being defined by a return bend provided at the top of saidrear upward bend, said front upward bend defining a stop against forwardmovement of said supporting member from which stop the supporting memberis releasable by being lifted at the front edge portion thereof.

*3. A filing cabinet according to claim 1, each bracket comprising asheet metal platform, said lugs each comprising a portion upstandingfrom said platform and a hook portion provided at the upper end of saidupstanding portion, said hook portion extending through the adjacent oneof said apertures, each aperture defining an upwardly facing edge andsaid hook portion being seated on said edge.

4. A filing cabinet as claimed in claim 3, one of the apertures of eachof said pairs of apertures being situated nearer the rear of the cabinetthan the other and defining a rear aperture, one of the lugs of each ofsaid brackets correspondingly defining a rear lug, a further lugprovided on each bracket in a position withdrawably to engage a rearaperture situated below the one engaged by said rear lug, said rearapertures each defining a down facing edge and said further lugcooperating with the down-facing edge of the aperture it engages tosupport the bracket against upward movement.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS577,881 Puffer Mar. 2, 1897 1,776,359 Jones Sept. 23, 1930 1,973,416Otte Sept. 11, 1934 2,005,938 Graves June 25, 1935 2,033,860 Otte Mar.10, 1936 2,773,362 Scheitlin Dec. 11, 1956 2,839,349 Culver June 17,1958 2,907,471 Henry Oct. 6, 1959

